More noise for the Leopards of the Bundeswehr

Leopard 2a7 tank german army with 120-mm smoothbore gun company rheinmetall l55, armor modules are wedge-shaped on the turret and additional armor the bottom of the german army needed to quickly increase the number of leopard 2 tanks and their fire power. This problem was voiced in the statement of the minister of defence of Germany ursula von der leyen, taken in april of 2016, saying on a number of measures aimed at strengthening the power of the german army, including the planned increase in the fleet of existing tanks from 225 to 320 cars. This initiative, which runs until 2020, aims to increase the number of tanks, the armament. In 2012 Germany had 350 tanks leopard 2 in working condition, but was then made the somewhat hasty decision to reduce this number.

At the briefing held in october 2016, the company rheinmetall announced some details about 120 mm smoothbore weapon system, which it delivers as part of the modernization kit 104 leopard 2 tanks from the new expanded park. All the tanks in the park, finalizing the program, which will implement the head contractor company krauss-maffei wegmann (kmw) will be standard leopard 2a7v (verbessert improved). From informal point of view, the symbol can also be interpreted as an allusion to the centenary of the first german tank a7v, which was released in 1917. The leopard 2 tanks that need to be upgraded to the new standard, including 16 vehicles leopard 2a6, previously in service with the dutch army, 68 tanks leopard 2a4, which the company kmw bought on the occasion of the swedish army, and 20 leopard 2 a7 tanks, which were transferred by the german company kmw army in the years 2014-2015 in the framework of a recent modernization program.

In the operating fleet of the german army also includes the 155 leopard 2a6 tanks and 50 tanks leopard 2a6m, which will be left for some time in its current state, but that will have to wait for future modernization program. The first two demonstration tank leopard 2a7v needs to be transferred for testing in the third quarter of 2018. An important component of modernization will be the installation of a 120 mm smoothbore cannon in the option l55a1 (55 calibers) with the improved characteristics of the development of the company rheinmetall, the basic model l55 which was first installed on the leopard 2a6. In the draft of the leopard 2 a7v will also include all the improvements already introduced in the leopard 2a7 variant, including climate control; auxiliary power unit steyr m12 power 17 kw; digital intercom system thales sot as; the battle management system ifis with new displays, updated sights commander and gunner with a thermal imager attica airbus; camouflage system, saab barracuda; set mine protection; and installed in the breech system programming μm (munitionskommunizierungsmodul) for automatic fuze setting universal high-explosive shells dm11.

With the financial assistance of the federal ministry of Germany for armaments, information technology and maintenance baainbw (bundesamt fur ausrustung, informationstechnik und nutzung der bundeswehr), the german government providing the necessary equipment, organization of information and operational support, an improved version of l55a1 must be formally qualified for higher pressure levels (700 mpa versus 670 mpa). A private research company rheinmetall conducted in 2004 confirmed that such pressure is achievable without adverse impact on the required resource gun 1500 rounds. The more noticeable change at the gun l55a1 will optimize the design of the mechanism for ejection of the pallets. According to the representative of the company rheinmetall, the steel used for the barrel of the gun l55a1, the same standard as in the basic model l55 (yield stress 1100 mpa), since there is insufficient time for formal qualifications design with steel greater strength, if the army wants to see the gun l55a1 in the tank leopard 2a7v.

In the early 2000-ies the company introduced a variant with a 120 mm smoothbore guns with a barrel length of 47 calibres, with a small force of the kickback and with higher allowable pressure in the barrel 750 mpa. The trunk was made of a steel workpiece with a yield strength of 1300 mpa, supplied by buderus plant. The company rheinmetall produced a later version of cannons ls5 of steel with a yield strength of 1300 mpa for installation in the turret of the challenger 2. The gun was successfully test fired on the ground in the UK in 2005.

For a perspective on all the tanks leopard 2a7 will be installed more powerful recoil device k900, although at the moment for firing from guns l55/l55a1 the current production armor-piercing ammunition dm63/63а1 (muzzle velocity of 1720 m/s) no specific need. Wheel device k900 was commissioned in 2001 in order to l55 gun (previous model l44) could withstand the force of the kickback when firing the previous armor-piercing projectile of the dm 53 (initial velocity of 1750 m/s and a maximum pressure of 575 mpa). The gun needs to cope with the increased energy and masses that will bring the next shell ке2020 high pressure elongated core, currently being developed at the company rheinmetall in unterluss. According to preliminary data, the new projectile ке2020 be ready for adoption into service no earlier than 2022.

Margin l55a1 gun will allow it to withstand the high pressure in the barrel when firing a new shell. Also due to the new mixture of the propellant charge in the cartridge case (and possibly an improved initiation of the charge) its characteristics will be 20 percent above the current characteristics of the munition ом63. According to some, if it has found a source of suitable material, the projectile ке2020 will have a core of tungsten alloy without the addition of cobalt, which will remove the objections expressed in the alloy used for the core shells of the present series of the dm 53-dm63. Meanwhile, hill-start assist device k900 was also included in the list of systems to be installed on the 128 leopard 2a4 of the polish army (with guns l44), planned for 2018-2020 modernization.

According to the company rheinmetall, the revision in this case is connected with mainly with questions of survivability. To minimize the risk of fire in case of combat damage the polish army intends to replace all the systems in the tower, working on hydraulic fluids, including electro-hydraulic actuators towers and guns electrical systems. Still hydraulic wheel device k600 will be replaced with new, more powerful recoil devices k900 operating on water-glycol mixture. The first sample technology demonstration 130 mm smoothbore gun was introduced by rheinmetall at the eurosatory 2016.

Gun has thermal insulation jacket and the matching system of the gun axis with the optical axis of the sight more mean better? while the german army only pays for upgrades 120-mm weapons systems, the company rheinmetall began development of a new advanced smoothbore tank gun caliber of 130 mm in the initiative order. This project was started in the year 2015 in anticipation that something more powerful than the 120-mm gun may be needed for any promising machine of fire support, such as the planned franco-german basic ground combat system main ground combat system (mgcs), which eventually (after about 2035) can replace the tank leopard 2. To test prototypes at a factory in unterluss was manufactured ammunition of calibre of 130 mm and at the end of 2016 was fired from existing ballistic firing stands. According to the company rheinmetall, stands (three pieces, the first was made in may 2016) should be considered only as "For demonstration of shooting shells" and no more.

Their immediate task is to provide a real demonstration of the difference in characteristics of 120-mm and 130-mm weapons systems during the shelling of a revised and refined set of goals, representing a new and promising tanks from different countries. So, at the moment of the external configuration of the 130-mm gun was not limited to the size of the existing turret of the leopard 2. As suggested by the representative of rheinmetall, it can vary according to the requirements of the german army. Offer for serial production variant of the 130-mm gun is 200 kg heavier than the existing 120-mm smoothbore gun l55.

The trunk weighing 1,400 kg and has a length of 51 caliber (6630 mm), made of high strength steel is not called mark, overall length is 7160 mm, including a modified breech with the chamber high pressure. Its design is similar to the design of the breech, was developed by company benet laboratories for lightweight 120mm gun хм360 fighting machine xm 1202 mounted combat system, which was one of the program components of the combat system of the future (future combat systems) us army, closed in 2009. Gun хм360 was subsequently modified, then under the designation хм360е1 appeared as a candidate on the gun for an american tank m1a2 abrams, keeping in view the benefits of higher pressure in the breech and shortened the length of the rollback. As for the 130-mm gun rheinmetall, its design pressure is 880 mpa, and the volume of the chambers 15 litres, compared with 10 liters for the 120-mm guns l55a1 and xm360e1.

The first 130-mm test projectiles with partially combustible cartridge case will be unitary (length 1. 3 meters) and have a mass of 30 kg, which entails the installation of the autoloader to an existing tank. However, the representative of rheinmetall noticed that can be the transition to dual core ammunition, if the configuration of the tower of the carrier vehicle and the system of stowage and handling of ammunition requires it. Dual core ammunition has been adopted as the basis of the four projects, prospects.

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